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Monday, January 18, 2010

The great food debate

I know this can be a hot button topic, but with out new addition we are figuring out how to feed the pups. Mesa has a sensitive tummy that acts up if we feed her anything with chicken in it. She also has sensitive anal glands that don't do well on grain free foods. Baily has a stomach of iron so she is good on whatever we feed. We tried the girls on a beef based food but it was a bit too rich for Mesa. Baily hated lamb based food so that was out as well. During a training class we learned Mesa would do ANYTHING for smelly fish so we started feeding Holistic Select Anchovy, Sardine and Salmon food. The girls LOVED it (Baily is also a huge fan of smelly fish).

We had been feeding this for a while when we saw Canidae came out with a Beef and Oceanfish Meal food. As whole beef is the first ingredient you have to remove the water content and you see that the oceanfish meal is actually the top ingredient. As the girls aren't allergic to red meat and I feel like they may be missing something because of feeding them a fish only food I switched them to the Canidae. This has been working out amazing. The girls have such shiny coats, small bowl movements, no room clearing gas and best of all no anal gland issues!

Now we have Big Carl who seems to think that the kibble size on Canidae is too big for him though he does try to chew on the huge nylabones. We bought him Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit which is a bison and fish food. He is loving it but it hasn't been long enough to see if it will help him gain the much needed weight (we can see his hip bones).

What are you guys feeding your pups?

Here is a pick of how BC slept on the sofa last night. Comfy?

22 comments:

Rescued Pittie Family said...

We use Nature's Select and love it. It's super premium food, but at a great price.

They have free delivery and it saves me the time to have to go out to PetSmart.

So glad we found them here in Nashville.

http://www.paulspetfood.com/

Two French Bulldogs said...

Big Carl knows yoga?
Benny & Lily

Golden Woofs! SUGAR said...

Woof! Woof! Well, when I was little I was in Canidae. As I grew up I had issues with it so mom change it to Orijen which we also found out that lots of Golden preferred choice of dog food. Selecting the right choice of dog food can be difficult and stressful ... is'nt it? Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

Noah the Airedale said...

Well we're on a barf diet. Pinky alternates the food we have from chicken wings or necks to chicken legs or beef brisket bones. We aslo get Barf patties which we can only find at selected stores With these patties the pinkies mixed them with things like tomatoes, tinned beans, spinach, saw egg, cooked sweet potato etc. We also get fruit salad and yoghurt. Sometimes we have cooked rice with raw mince but our all time favourite are Hoki fillets (fish). They come frozen straight out of the freezer. They're a great snack.
We dont suffer from a sensitive tummy so we're pretty easy to feed. Not cheap but easy lol.

Noah Willow Tess Lucy

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Khyra's Mom here...

When I first got her, I fed her Canidae ALS formulation - she enjoyed it and it worked for her

BUT then Canidae got too big for its production facility and made two changes at one time: formulation AND production facility.

I could handle the formulation change but switching some of the production to a Diamond associated facility was too risky for me - even though Canidae claims it should not be a concern.

I did some research and went with California Naturals. The first one was Herring and Sweet Potato which Khyra LOVED - but I did not love her breath.

SO our second bag of CN became Lamb and Rice. SHE LOVES IT. She actually asks to be fed (often prior to THAT time). She used to play with her Canidae but most nights the CN is gone in just a few minutes.

Just my experience!

Good Luck!

pibble said...

Um, is BC in that photo?

I feed Blue Buffalo, Brown Rice and Chicken, so I'm no help. But they do have a fish and sweet potato formula. I started on BB because one of my dogs had terribly dry and sensitive skin, and it really got better after only a few weeks on BB. They also have a small breed formula, which I believe is chicken based.

Unknown said...

My dogs are on a raw diet. My older dog is pretty sensitive, so I have to be careful w/ variety.

She used to have horrible anal gland problems but that has been eliminated w/ a raw diet.

Bijou said...

We are fed Nutra Source Adult (chicken & rice) which is the food our vet recommends. No problems for me or Banjo so far.

Nice sleeping positions!

Waggles,
Bijou

Angel Ginger Jasper said...

That picture is so cute.. Hugs GJ x

Hansel said...

your stories of upset tummies and bad anal glands sound just like our benny. We went through ALL of that with him. There is this great food that you can get through your vet called I/D - which is made special for upset bellies.

Thanks so much for coming by and praying for hansel with us. We are going through a lot and have some big decisions to make with him. It means a lot to us.

kissa-bull said...

we are hunwy after all this foodables talk
the woggie suer is a cutie
cant wait to see more of him
wiggles
the houston pittie pack

Teddy Bear said...

Big Carl has a great sleeping pawsition. We eat chicken, rolled oats, carrots, and spinach for dinner. Mommy says that she's heard great things about Halo.

Love,
Teddy Bear

i said...

BC sure looks comfy there ;-) Happy has a sensitive tummy so a lot of brands don't work for her. But she's doing well on California Natural Chicken & Rice. I've tried CN herring & sweet potato on her but she didn't like it. Good thing too as her breath smells like fish market all the time LOL.

The Adventures of the LLB Gang said...

I am still trying to see Big Carl in that picture...all I see is legs and paws....

Smileys!
Dory

JB's Big and Small Worlds said...

We can't help with advice on dog food but know it is just as hard to find the right food for cats....ask our mom. hee hee
--JB

Lorenza said...

You need BC to gain weight and I always have to keep an eye on mine!
My mom gives me Royal Canine Obesity Management! Hmmm...
I hope you find the right one!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Erin said...

My pups are all on different foods

Pompei-Lab/Golden Pup is on Natural Balance Lamb & Rice
Victoria-Golden is on Diamond Brand...but I think I'm going to put her back on Nutro Lab & Rice, since she doesn't seem to doing so well on DB
The Dachshunds are eating Wellness Whitefish; and they are doing great on that!

Good luck with your search.

Sam said...

We feed a combination of Merrick and Taste of the Wild. My intent was to stick with one or the other, but Marge does so well on both that I've decided to leave it this way for a while. Eventually I'd like to go completely grain free, and maybe even switch to raw later on.

Dexter said...

I eat mostly kibbles. A combination of Taste of the Wild and Back to Basics. I tend to have a sensitive tummy too, but this works for me.

I usually also get a nommy topping like yogurt, fruit, fish, or vegetables.

Slobbers,
Mango

Anonymous said...

Are you sure there is a dog in that picture??

I've heard lots of good things about the BARF diet and/or a raw food diet. You can buy pre-made raw food patties at better dog food stores that makes it much easier on the humans.

I feed my dogs Innova, and they seem to do fine.

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

We were using Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken for a long time, switched to Canidae - dogs were really happy with it but then they changed formulas. We went back to Eagle Pack. Then Phantom had his tumor issue and the vets suggested he get a grain free food. So now we feed Evo large bites, mostly chicken based. So far so good. Every dog seems to have different needs, there is no one food that is best for all. You should just go with what you think works for your pups.

Woos, the OP Pack

Joe Stains said...

We were on Canidae til they switched up the formula and it made me super itchy. Then we tried Orijen which was SUPER but it made Tanner even fatter. So now we are on Eagle Pack.